There has been known an information processing apparatus which detects by various kinds of sensors an action of an operating tool such as a finger, a hand and a stylus and which performs interaction with a user. The information processing apparatus detects a state of contact/proximity of the operating tool with a sensor, a remote movement of the operating tool captured by a sensor, or the like and identifies an operation input by a user, for example.
In particular, an information processing apparatus in which a touch panel interface is used identifies an operation input by a user, based on a state of contact of an operating tool with a display panel. Here, the user recognizes a display direction of a graphical user interface (GUI) on the display panel and performs an operation in accordance with the direction.
For example, when a slider object is displayed in a vertical direction of the GUI display, the user selects a slider tub and performs, upon recognizing an orientation of the GUI display, a drag operation in accordance with the vertical direction of the GUI display.